


Of Good Advice and People That Need To Take It

by Glyphhunter



Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Malnutrition, boys being emotional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-09-22
Packaged: 2018-02-18 08:52:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2342471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glyphhunter/pseuds/Glyphhunter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or Jude doesn't know when to quit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Good Advice and People That Need To Take It

**Author's Note:**

> Part of the 30 day OTP challenge feat. Alvin/Jude   
> 01 - Holding hands
> 
> Some years after the events of Xillia 2. Normal/true ending.

He woke up to the feeling of fingers tracing along his hand and the odd sense that he was floating. Everything from his legs to his chest ached and there was a dull throb at his temples. His hand was flipped over and the fingers moved from tracing along his knuckles to the lines of his palm. Alvin?

“What are you doing?” That wasn’t what he wanted to say though it was a question floating around. What happened, why do I hurt, how did I get here, where is here, why are _you_ here? That was what he wanted to know. Not...

Alvin laced their fingers together and he opened his eyes to see the ceiling of... his parent’s clinic? “Are you finally coherent?” Alvin asked and he felt like the physical embodiment of the question mark. Finally?

“I... think so?” he answered, not quite sure, and he frowned at the ceiling, “what happened?” He must’ve done something wrong somewhere. What was he doing last, reading? Studying something?

“You went and did exactly what I told you not to,” Alvin told him and his frown deepened. What did Alvin always tell him? Don’t die? Did he-

His eyes widened and he sucked in a sharp breath as his head twisted to the side, “Am I dead?” He couldn’t be dead! He still had to-

“What?” Alvin’s own eyes widened in surprise as he straightened in his chair, “no, you’re not dead!”

“But you said-“ A hand covered his mouth and the rest of his breath rushed out through his nose as Alvin leaned close and why did he look so freaked out?

“What is the other thing I always tell you not to do?” he asked as Jude slowly relaxed into the mattress again. The pressure lifted and his hand moved away while Jude thought though it didn’t go far. It was a comfortable weight on his chest as he stared at Alvin’s face and wow, did he ever look like he needed to get some sleep. The man was going to make himself- Oh.

“Not... to make myself sick,” Jude remembered and Alvin gave him a pointed look, “I’m-“

“I found you, two days ago, on the floor of your office burning with fever,” Alvin said before he could say anything else and suddenly the grip on his hand was painfully tight. “I was gone for three days. I didn’t know how long you’d been there, and my first thought was that you were dead,” he told him and Jude realized with stark clarity that there were tears in Alvin’s eyes and the hand that desperately clutched his was trembling.

He opened his mouth but Alvin shook his head, “Don’t talk right now, Jude, because you need to hear this. You need to know that according to your parents, the last time you ate was the day I left. The last time you drank was when Leia took you for coffee a day later.”

Alvin took a deep shaking breath and Jude swallowed thickly. “You need to know,” Alvin continued, “that it took her four hours to convince me that you weren’t going to die. And you need to know that from now on, every time I leave for work, Leia, Rowen, Elize, _someone_ is going to come and make sure you eat regularly so that this never happens again because I don’t care how important your research is, it’s never as important as _you.”_

“Alvin,” Jude’s voice cracked and the hand that was resting on his chest moved to the nape of his neck. Calloused fingers threaded through his hair and Alvin’s thumb brushed along his cheek.

“I love you, damn it,” Alvin said, pressing their foreheads together as he brought their joined hands to his lips. His fingered were kissed and Jude felt burning tears gather and drip to the pillows beneath him.

“I’m sorry,” he pulled his other hand up to press it against Alvin’s face and took in a shuddering breath, “I love you too, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” His fingers scratched at the stubble that had grown then smoothed it back and kept smoothing it back until his hand was in Alvin’s hair and both of them were desperately holding on to each other.

_I won’t do it again, I promise._


End file.
